I like the Opal. That looks fantastic! I have a little 70's. Box sold for pennies couple weeks ago that must have been from the 40's.
Neat stuff.
How do you read the tablet? What kind of info does it give?
Illingworth looks the worst?
Opal looks smoother than Velox and less biting ..a better portrait paper?
Why does the Azo seem to have so little in the blacks? More in the midtones? Most contrast? Very subtle gradation.
The velox/azo scans don't seem to match in color to their tablets.
Velox came out olive/sepia and cold. Opal matches in both. Azo is completely opposite.

I wouldn't hesitate to use any of that paper ..even with the difficulties. The Opal is more my style, though.
don'tcarefortheLuminous.

"...same negative on different paper" Great

Any antifoggant added? Which one took the 5 minute exposure? I have some 70's Polylure that is fogged a bit but with 4 minutes at
f5.6 -contact print- it comes out fine. Must have been stored in the oven. I thought Polylure would have been a close cousin to Ektalure but on one of the sites dealing with old paper it was classed a SLOWER chlorobromide than Ektalure. I've seen a lot of conflicting classification. Read it's variable contrast from grades 2-3.5, or something, too.

Thanks. the file names would have me believe the papers are (in order) Opal, Illingworth, Azo 1931 then Velox 1937.

In other words the file names don't match the order you stated in your post.

Thanks again. I can't wait to see all the papers printed with the same negative.

Oops the the file names are correct in the step wedge area. My understanding of the step wedge is limited. I believe this one is in 1/2 stop increments and 11 is zone 5. Someone more familiar with this wedge would be better choice for explanation. I used it to show the range of the paper. Of the 4 shown the Illingsworth's range goes across the whole wedge. Quite impressive really. It did have the most fog, I don't know if this had anything to do with it.

My goal was to have the range in the middle assuming that it could be moved up or down the scale.

The 4 wedges were all processed in 58D the color is the combination of paper and developer. Al were Selenium toned. the prints are form different developers. The brownish tone ones are 58D and the Olive or black tone ones are LPD 1:5 with 50ml of Benzotriazole per 1000ml added. The LPD works well with contact paper not to good with enlarging paper

I would be interested to see other old papers from this group if anybody has some.

The hues and color shifts are unreal. I never saw Opal, Azo or Velox give those kinds of neutral scales. I could believe the tone to some extent, but the hue shifts for a B&W paper are too too extreme.

The hues and color shifts are unreal. I never saw Opal, Azo or Velox give those kinds of neutral scales. I could believe the tone to some extent, but the hue shifts for a B&W paper are too too extreme.

PE

That probaly has more to do with my scanning abilities and computer setup. I was afraid to mess with the scans to much. That said when toning a different piece of the 1931 Azo it went almost red using a 1:20 Selinium mix.